Persecution of Uyghurs in China

Persecution of Uyghurs in China
Part of the Xinjiang conflict
Detainees listening to speeches in a camp in Lop County, Xinjiang, April 2017
Xinjiang, highlighted red, shown within China
Location	Xinjiang, China
Date	2014–present
Target	Uyghurs, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, and other Turkic Muslims
Attack type	Internment, forced abortion, forced sterilization, forced birth control, forced labor, torture, brainwashing, alleged rape (including gang rape)
Victims	est. ≥1 million detained
Perpetrator	Government of the People's Republic of China
Motive	Counterterrorism (official) Sinicization, Islamophobia,[1] and suppression of political dissent

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Compulsory sterilization Democide Ethnic cleansing Ethnocide Forced assimilation
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History of the People's Republic of China
1949–1976: Mao era Revolution Land Reform Movement Proclamation Korean War Campaign to Suppress Counterrevolutionaries Three-anti and Five-anti Campaigns First five-year plan Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence Bandung Conference Sufan movement Hundred Flowers Campaign Anti-Rightist Campaign Canton Fair Great Leap Forward Great Chinese Famine Two Bombs, One Satellite Seven Thousand Cadres Conference Socialist Education Movement Third Front Cultural Revolution UN representation Richard Nixon visit
1976–1989: Deng era Gang of Four Boluan Fanzheng 1978 Truth Criterion Controversy Reforms and Opening Up Special economic zones China–United States relations Three Communiqués Four Modernizations Sino-Vietnamese War Beijing Spring Strike Hard Against Crime Campaign Sino-British Joint Declaration Campaign against spiritual pollution Bourgeois liberalization Opposition 863 Program 1986 Chinese student demonstrations Sino-Portuguese Joint Declaration 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre
1989–2002: Jiang era Shanghai Stock Exchange Pudong New District Deng's southern tour 1992 consensus One country, two systems Handover of Hong Kong Handover of Macau 1998 floods US bombing of the Belgrade embassy Persecution of Falun Gong China Western Development Hainan Island incident APEC China 2001 Accession to the WTO Forum on China–Africa Cooperation Shanghai Cooperation Organisation
2002–2012: Hu era 2002–2004 SARS outbreak Shenzhou 5 Visit of Lien Chan South–North Water Transfer Project Qinghai–Tibet railway 2008 Sichuan earthquake Three Links with Taiwan 2008 Summer Olympics Expo 2010 BRICS Three Gorges Dam West–East Gas Pipeline High-speed rail
2012–present: Xi era Anti-corruption campaign Belt and Road Initiative Chang'e 3 Supercomputing APEC China 2014 Meeting with Ma Ying-Jeou 2016 G20 Hangzhou summit Xiong'an 9th BRICS summit Persecution of Uyghurs Xinjiang internment camps China–United States trade war China International Import Expo Space program 2019–2020 Hong Kong protests 2020 Hong Kong national security law COVID-19 pandemic 2020–2021 reform spree 2022 Winter Olympics
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History of Xinjiang
Ancient period Tocharians Yuezhi Xiongnu Western Regions (Han Protectorate; Chief Officials) Kingdom of Khotan Former Liang Former Qin Later Liang Western Liang Gaochang Rouran First Turkic Khaganate Western Turkic Khaganate Eastern Turkic Khaganate Second Turkic Khaganate
Medieval and early modern period Tang Protectorates (West; Beiting) Tibetan Empire Uyghur Khaganate Kara-Khanid Khanate Kingdom of Qocho Qara Khitai Mongol Empire (Yuan; Chagatai Khanate) Moghulistan (Turpan; Yarkent) Ming ruled Kara Del Dzungar Khanate Kumul Khanate Yettishar Qing rule (Dzungar genocide Dungan Revolt Qing reconquest)
Modern period Xinjiang Province, Republic of China (Xinjiang clique 1st East Turkestan Republic 2nd East Turkestan Republic) Xinjiang Province, People's Republic of China Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region (Production and Construction Corps Xinjiang conflict Xinjiang internment camps / Persecution of Uyghurs in China)
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Since 2014, the Chinese government has committed a series of ongoing human rights abuses against Uyghurs and other ethnic and religious minorities in Xinjiang which has often been characterized as persecution or as genocide. The alleged abuses of Turkic Muslim groups have included mass arbitrary arrests and detention, torture, mass surveillance, cultural and religious persecution, family separation, forced labor, sexual violence, and violations of reproductive rights.

In 2014, the administration of Chinese Communist Party (CCP) General Secretary Xi Jinping launched the Strike Hard Campaign Against Violent Terrorism, which involved surveillance and restrictions in Xinjiang. Beginning in 2017, under Xinjiang CCP Secretary Chen Quanguo,^[2] the government incarcerated more than an estimated one million Uyghurs without legal process in internment camps officially described as "vocational education and training centers", in the largest mass internment of an ethnic-religious minority group since World War II.^[3][4] China began to wind down the camps in 2019, and Amnesty International states that detainees have been increasingly transferred to the formal penal system. In addition to mass detention, government policies have included forced labor and factory work,^[5][6] suppression of Uyghur religious practices,^[7] political indoctrination,^[8] forced sterilization,^[9] forced contraception,^[10][11] and forced abortion.^[12][13] An estimated 16,000 mosques have been razed or damaged,^[2] and hundreds of thousands of children have been forcibly separated from their parents and sent to boarding schools.^[14][15] Chinese government statistics reported that from 2015 to 2018, birth rates in the mostly Uyghur regions of Hotan and Kashgar fell by more than 60%.^[9] In the same period, the birth rate of the whole country decreased by 9.69%.^[16] Chinese authorities acknowledged that birth rates dropped by almost a third in 2018 in Xinjiang, but denied reports of forced sterilization.^[17] Birth rates in Xinjiang fell a further 24% in 2019, compared to a nationwide decrease of 4.2%.^[9]

The Chinese government denies having committed human rights abuses in Xinjiang.^[3][18] International reactions have varied, with its actions being described as the forced assimilation of Xinjiang, as ethnocide or cultural genocide,^[19][20] or as genocide. Those accusing China of genocide point to intentional acts they say violate Article II of the Genocide Convention,^[21][22][23] which prohibits "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part," a "racial or religious group" including "causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group" and "measures intended to prevent births within the group".^[24] In a 2022 assessment by the UN Human Rights Office, the United Nations (UN) stated that China's policies and actions in the Xinjiang region may be crimes against humanity, though did not use the term genocide.^[25][26] In 2020, 39 UN member states issued statements to the United Nations Human Rights Council criticizing China's policies, while 45 countries supported China's "deradicalization measures in Xinjiang" and opposed "the politicization of human rights issues and double standards".^[27]

In December 2020, a case brought to the International Criminal Court was dismissed because the crimes alleged appeared to have been "committed solely by nationals of China within the territory of China, a State which is not a party to the Statute", meaning the ICC could not investigate them.^{[28][29][30][31]} In January 2021, the United States Department of State declared China's actions as genocide,^[30][31] and legislatures in several countries have passed non-binding motions doing the same, including the House of Commons of Canada,^[32] the Dutch parliament,^[33] the House of Commons of the United Kingdom,^[34] the Seimas of Lithuania,^[35] and the French National Assembly.^[36] Other parliaments, such as those in New Zealand,^[37] Belgium,^[38] and the Czech Republic condemned the Chinese government's treatment of Uyghurs as "severe human rights abuses" or crimes against humanity.^[39]